At least 18 killed in ‘targeted’ IDF attack on mosque used as Hamas operations center

MADRID 6 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Nearly twenty Palestinian civilians have been killed and dozens injured as a result of a “selective” attack by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against a mosque located in Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip. alleging that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) used this building as an operations center.

During the early hours of Sunday, Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on a mosque housing displaced people near the Al Aqsa hospital, killing at least 18 citizens, including several children, and leaving a “large number” of seriously injured. , according to medical sources cited by the Wafa agency.

“Air Force aircraft have recently attacked, selectively and under the direction of AMN Intelligence, the Shin Bet and the Southern Command, terrorists operating in a command and control complex in the area that was previously used such as the Iven Rashed school in Deir al Balá,” the Israeli Army explained in a statement shared on the social network X.

In similar terms, the IDF has reported the attack on a second Hamas “command and control complex” also located in Deir al-Balah and which was “previously used as the Shahda al-Aqsa Mosque.”

In both cases, Israeli forces have justified their actions by saying that Hamas had been using the “command and control complexes” attacked “to plan and carry out terrorist operations against IDF forces and the State of Israel.”

The IDF has also defended that it took “many measures to reduce the possibility of harming civilians” before carrying out the attack and has assured that it “will continue to act with force and determination against terrorist organizations” such as Hamas, which “systematically violates International Law.” , brutally exploiting civil institutions and the population as a human shield for terrorist acts.”

An approximate total of 41,825 people have died in the Gaza Strip as a result of the military offensive launched by the IDF almost a year ago, in response to the attacks carried out by Hamas militiamen and which left some 1,200 dead and some 240 hostages.

This is stated in the report published this Saturday by the Gaza Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which also reflects another approximate total of 96,910 injured.